Crime is the 'career' of choice in the inner-city

Crime is seen as a better career path than a legitimate job for young men living in run-down inner-cities, a Home Office report warns.

Drug dealing, mugging and other offences offer a route to conspicuous wealth and status for those with little education, or for whom previous convictions make it hard to find a job, it says.

The bleak study also reveals guns are becoming more easily available, with sawn-off shotguns changing hands for as little as £50, and machine-guns on sale for a few hundred pounds.

The report singles out drug dealing as the main factor in 'legitimising crime as a career option for some individuals'.

It adds: 'There are many indications that drug- dealing and other criminality are "out-competing" the legitimate labour market.

'For individuals whose employment prospects are limited by a lack of qualifications, and an existing criminal record, a criminal lifestyle can be seen as an attractive proposition.'

Crime-based economies are more strongly established in Manchester and Liverpool than in Birmingham, Nottingham and London, the report warns, and guns are most easily available in those cities.

Researchers at the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the Portsmouth University interviewed 80 gun crime offenders in jails across Britain for the study. Most saw crime as 'a viable career option, enabling material aspirations and social or peer pressures to be realised'.

Once high- earning criminals become visible in an area a vicious circle is established, the report claims, with young men aspiring to match the lifestyle of the 'successful' criminals.

The report also describes 'arms races' between rival drug gangs, for whom guns are readily available. Sawn-off shotguns, favoured by armed robbers for their ' significant intimidatory value', sell for between £50 and £200, while automatic weapons such as Uzi submachine guns change hands for between £800 and £4,000.

Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: 'This alarming report shows just how badly the Government is failing to protect the safety of the public.'